More than two years after National Football League quarterback Colin Kaepernick launched his ill-conceived, poorly executed sideline protest, some of his former colleagues are finally rehabilitating his muddled message into something that might result in real change.

Part of a new independent nonprofit organization called the Players Coalition, Davis and Watson say they want to bring awareness to social justice and racial equality issues all across the country.

"It's easy for people to get caught up in the headlines," Davis said, referring to the national anthem protests sparked by Kaepernick. "They can easily villainize or misinterpret what we're doing ... they don't know necessarily what's going on behind the scenes, and what these players are really protesting."

It's a start.

Kaepernick may eventually get the credit for whatever good comes from the movement, but he should thank his NFL brethren for finally bringing clarity to what has been a confused campaign hijacked by forces intent on division or building their own brands.

The former quarterback first made his stand by taking a seat during the national anthem of the 49ers' Aug. 26, 2016, preseason game against Green Bay.

Asked after the game about his actions, Kaepernick said he was "not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way."

A week later, he chose to kneel during the playing of the anthem, a change that he said was intended to show more respect for former and current members of the U.S. military. His message of respect, however, was quickly overshadowed by training camp photos showing him wearing socks with pictures of pigs dressed like police officers.

"I wore these socks, in the past, because the rogue cops that are allowed to hold positions in police departments, not only put the community in danger, but also put the cops that have the right intentions in danger by creating an environment of tension and mistrust," Kaepernick wrote in a social media explanation.

The images, however, were polarizing.

The anthem protests appeared to be fading toward the end of the 2016 season. But when Kaepernick went unsigned as a free agent in 2017, some players took a knee in solidarity with a colleague they believed was being denied employment for speaking his mind.

The issue reached a political peak last September when President Donald Trump declared at an Alabama campaign rally that any NFL owner who fired a player who "disrespects our flag" would be "the most popular person in this country."

"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners," Trump told the crowd, "when somebody disrespects our flag, say: 'Get that son of a b---- off the field right now. Out. He's fired. He's FIRED!"

Whatever Kaepernick intended, the debate was now about patriotism, support for police and troops, the president, the power of NFL owners, what athletes owe their fans and more. A messaging mess.

The latest evidence of the cognitive dissonance came when Nike, on a mission to sell as many shoes, T-shirts and other equipment as possible, chose to make Kaepernick the face of its latest "Just Do It" ad campaign. That resulted in some people burning their Nike products on YouTube and Kenner Mayor Ben Zahn, apparently hoping to boost his political profile, issuing a memo to discourage private booster groups from buying Nike equipment.

Getting much less attention, unfortunately, was the Players Coalition effort to actually address real problems and work to real solutions.

With "the continuous arguments over who is protesting and who isn't circulating among owners, fans, the media and politicians -- the governing board of the Players Coalition feels the need to refocus attention back on the systemic issues that plague the lives of millions of Americans, and remind you why we are in this fight," the coalition says in its latest posting.

Yeah, let's "Just do this."

Tim Morris is a columnist on the Latitude team at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Latitude is a place to share opinions about the challenges facing Louisiana. Follow @LatitudeNOLA on Facebook and Twitter. Write to Tim at tmorris@nola.com.